Thread by @Usherwood

A quick guide on How To Stop Brexit:

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(to be clear, I mean here "how to stop the UK leaving the EU")

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Following the UK's notification on 29 March 2017 of its intention to leave the EU under Art.50, the UK will leave on 29 March 2019

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That can only be stopped by an active decision to the contrary, almost certainly involving the consent of both the UK and the EU

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Option 1: the Art.50 process can be extended by any length of time, by the approval of both the UK and all EU member states

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That would still mean the UK was committed to leaving, so such extensions would be presumably for the purpose of gaining more time for negotiations to that end

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Option 2: the UK could ask to revoke its Art.50 notification and continue as a member of the EU for the indefinite future.

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Art.50 is unclear on this, but certainly if both the UK and EU agreed (unanimously) to that revocation, it would happen. @JolyonMaugham is currently seeking an ECJ opinion on whether the unilateral UK revocation is similarly valid

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Option 3: there is no option 3.

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(I'll side-bar to @ChrisJones_1: you can have a WA with a later date of ceasing to be a member of the EU, but you're still leaving (by definition), so it's like a harder version of Option 1)

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whatever happens in Parliament in and around ratification of the WA, none of that - by itself - produces an end to leaving

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The EU still has to be notified of a change in intention by the UK, and (with that possible exception of unilateral revocation) has to agree to that change of intention for it to have an effect

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Yes, Parliament can force the government to make the necessary notifications to the EU, but the EU will not get involved in domestic arrangements and will only follow the formal notifications under its own rules

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Thus, the EU will not (and cannot) hold up Art.50 unilaterally because of UK uncertainty in Parliament: the UK - through gvt - has to also be party to that process

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All stuff to remember in the coming months, as we get deep in ratification

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